Similar claims on\u00a0TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> warned that a fee for Canadian citizens leaving the country to work in the United States was being imminently imposed, or had already been.<\/p>\n One post featured<\/a> Canadian anti-vaccine activist\u00a0Chris Saccoccia, who is also known as Chris Sky and has previously<\/a> spread health misinformation<\/a>. Others\u00a0shared<\/a> an AI-generated clip depicting a worker getting stopped at the border for not paying a steep fee.<\/p>\n Screenshot to a Facebook post taken April 24, 2026<\/p>\n Screenshot of an X post taken April 23, 2026<\/p>\n But a spokesperson for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office told AFP in an April 21 email that no such tax was in place.<\/p>\n The “exit tax” claims appear to trace to an April 10 Canadian economy panel at the Liberal Party Convention<\/a> in Montreal.\u00a0Some of the\u00a0misleading posts<\/a> included a clip<\/a> from the event of\u00a0Patrick Pichette<\/a>, former chief financial officer at Google (archived\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n In the footage, Pichette, who is from Montreal, discussed how he moved to the United States to work for Microsoft after studying in Canada.\u00a0He proposed enticing Canadian talent to stay in the country by closing the professional visa\u00a0program<\/a> he used, or by asking exiting workers to pay back the cost of their government-funded<\/a> education (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n “Make them pay their half a million if they leave, I’m okay with that,” he said, noting that he estimated his studies cost CA $500,000 (US $365,789).<\/p>\n “You want to go to the US, give me back my money,” he argued.<\/p>\n The other three members of the panel were ministers in the Liberal government.\u00a0After Pichette’s comments, the speakers returned to discussing how to attract workers to Canada, and the suggestion of an exit fee was not brought up again.<\/p>\n Several editorials<\/a>, as well as the leader of the opposition Conservatives<\/a>, Pierre Poilievre, denounced<\/a> Pichette’s proposal at the time (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n AFP found no evidence that the Canadian government was working to implement\u00a0an exit tax after it was discussed at the Liberal convention.<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/91205a3d04ba9807d44413f81673fffd.jpeg\"\/)
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